TIFF Journal: ‘Denial’

'Denial'

Movie Rating:

2.5

‘Denial’ is one of those well-meaning movies about an important subject that isn’t particularly good, but tends to get a free pass in awards season thanks to sincerity and presenting a positive social message. The movie really doesn’t have any surprises, even for those unaware of the true story on which it’s based.

The film plays out according to a predetermined formula. The audience gets to feel outraged by offensive behavior with the calm and soothing comfort of knowing that all problems will be solved by the time the credits roll. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll love this. If not, you know what to expect.

Rachel Wiesz stars Deborah E. Lipstadt, a Holocaust historian who is passionate about spreading the word about the atrocities that occurred in World War II in the hopes that they’re never repeated. Obviously, she doesn’t take too kindly to any Holocaust denier, and in particular has printed many harsh things about the infamous British denier David Irving (Timothy Spall), who has essentially made a career out of being a racist while calling himself a historian. Irving sues Listadt for libel after finding a particularly scathing passage about him in her latest work, which means that Lipstadt must go to trial. Due to the peculiarities of the British court system, the onus in on her to prove that what she said is true. To do that, she hires a crack Brit legal team led by Andrew Scott and Tom Wilkinson.

No spoilers, but it’s safe to say that you can comfortably predict how this trial will turn out. No matter how loudly the dramatic music plays during moments of doubt that director Mick Jackson (‘The Bodyguard’, ‘Volcano’) lingers on, it’s clear how this thing will get resolved. Fair enough. It would be disappointing otherwise, to say the least. However, that means there’s not much dramatic tension involved in the sluggish 110-minute running time. The film is essentially one big, long, obvious excuse to feel good about not being a racist, mostly told through long courtroom monologues. Yawn. The only real question is how well it’s played by the actors.

Sadly, that’s a mixed bag as well. Timothy Small makes for an amusingly bitter and intelligent villain, but essentially only plays one smug note that gets rather shrill. The same can be said for Rachel Weisz, whose character could be dismissed as an ethnic stereotype were it not for the positive message. Andrew Scott and Tom Wilkinson seem to have been instructed to play things “as British as possible” without much variance.

‘Denial’ is essentially a glorified TV movie designed to be comfort food for folks who enjoy participating in outrage culture. It’s fairly well produced and the cast are good despite their limited subject matter, but it’s nothing particularly special that will be remembered for longer than its theatrical release window and awards push.

About Philip Brown

Phil Brown loves movies too much. He rants and raves about them privately to anyone who will listen, as well as professionally for outlets like Fangoria, Rue Morgue, the Toronto Star, Now Magazine, AskMen, C&G Magazine, and anyone else who will return his emails. You can follow him on Twitter @thatphilbrown.

ScoobySnack

For a bit of straight history, David Irving was and is an acclaimed best seller (Internet now) historian on World War Two going back to the beginning of the 1960s. He never touched on the Holocaust because his area was military history. In about 1976 he published his best seller Hitler’s War. His publisher instructed him to include a chapter on the Holocaust. He said he couldn’t because he couldn’t find any thing with direct reference to Hitler. His publisher said that omission would cost him a million dollars. Irving said what you have never had you don’t miss. Later on purely technical issues, Irving accepted the technical report of Leuchter on the German World War Two camps. The rest as this film epitomises is hysteria.

Spoff

To be fair, this film is quite misleading. Irving was foolish to have initiated this action. He, of all people, should have known it would end badly for him and that just such a film as this could result and be billed as “The Holocaust on trial”.
I also once thought him foolish to have undertaken his own defense but since discovered that his legal representative resigned just weeks before the trial, possibly deliberately, to leave him in the lurch. Nevertheless, the transcript of the trial makes for fascinating reading as the case is far more nuanced than the movie allows. Hopefully the film will inspire researchers to dig a little deeper and find that the main body of Irving’s work (which as the poster above points out does not concern itself with the Holocaust in any detail) remains credible and had garnered high praise from eminent Historians.
It is a great pity that History has become politicized and trivialized. It is a living, breathing thing and is best served by open debate.

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